Typically, casinos presently sequester an area containing a plurality of machines for tournament play. The tournament is designated to start at an appointed time, and those players who timely enroll are admitted into the corded off area to begin play with all other entrants. While this system works fairly effectively, in many cases a player who would like to enter the tournament arrives a few minutes late and is either at a disadvantage with respect to the other tournament players or will have been excluded. In addition, the mechanisms associated with enrollment provide down time for the casinos with respect to those games due to, inter alia, the need of the casino to sequester the tournament machines.
Moreover, in some cases the machines that have been allocated for tournament play may be under subscribed for lack of players while other areas immediately adjacent the sequestered area has a greater demand. In addition, many players do not like to stand in line and are required to do so for the enrollment process.
The following prior art reflects the state of the art of which applicant is aware and is included herewith to discharge applicant's acknowledged duty to disclose relevant prior art. It is stipulated, however, that this reference does not teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention as disclosed in greater detail hereinafter and as particularly claimed.
______________________________________ PATENT NO. ISSUE DATE INVENTOR ______________________________________ 5,083,271 January 21, 1992 Thacher, et al. 5,476,259 December 19, 1995 Weingardt ______________________________________